1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to cotton ginning and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for restoring moisture to lint cotton in a cotton gin.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
A modern cotton gin includes several coacting subsystems that not only separates cotton seed from lint cotton, but that also dries and cleans the lint cotton and packages the lint cotton into bales for transfer to a cotton warehouse or textile mill, etc. Seed cotton (i.e., raw cotton from the cotton field) usually arrives at the cotton gin in large trailers or modules. Some type of unloading system, such as a large suction pipe or module feed system, conveys the seed cotton from the trailers or modules to the initial stages of the ginning process, typically a moisture balancing stage to either reduce or increase its moisture content to a desired level, and a rough cleaning stage to remove leaves, small trash, sticks, etc., from the seed cotton. The partially processed seed cotton is then transferred to one or more gin stands for xe2x80x9cginningxe2x80x9d, i.e. for separation of the cotton seed and fiber. Each gin stand typically includes a roller gin or saw gin, etc. A typical cotton gin may have three or more gin stands. After ginning, the cotton fiber is typically referred to as xe2x80x9clint cottonxe2x80x9d (sometimes referred to as xe2x80x9ccotton lintxe2x80x9d or just xe2x80x9clintxe2x80x9d). The ginned lint may then pass through a lint cleaning stage to remove any small trash or dirt remaining in the lint. The cleaned lint is then carried through a lint flue or the like to a battery condenser, where the cleaned lint is formed into a continuous batt and discharged onto a lint slide. The batt is conveyed down the lint slide to a bale press where the batt is compressed and formed into one or more bales. Each bale may then be tied with bailing wire and wrapped with plastic, etc., before being stored or transferred to a warehouse, textile mill, etc.
For many years, cotton ginners have tried various methods to add moisture to lint cotton before the lint enters the bale press. Most of these prior methods add moisture at the lint slide, after the lint has left the battery condenser formed into a batt, and just prior to the batt entering the bale press. However, the accuracy of the resultant moisture level in the finished bale using these prior methods has not been universally acceptable. The typical prior method merely adds the same amount or volume of moisture to the batt, regardless of the rate at which the batt is moving down the slide (e.g., regardless of how many bales a gin stand is producing per hour, etc.), or of the preexisting moisture content of the batt.
A preliminary patentability search in Class 19, subclass 66C, and Class 100, subclass 74, produced the following patents, some of which may be relevant to the present invention: Buzick, U.S. Pat. No. 2,914,809, issued Dec. 1, 1959; Hurdt, U.S. Pat. No. 3,324,513, issued Jun. 13, 1967; Mangialardi et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,392,424, issued Jul. 16, 1968; Jackson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,103,397, issued Aug. 1, 1978; Vandergriff, U.S. Pat. No. 4,140,503, issued Feb. 20, 1979; Woods, U.S. Pat. No. 4,726,096, issued Feb. 23, 1988; and Vandergriff, U.S. Pat. No. 5,381,587, issued Jan. 17, 1995.
None of known prior art, either singly or in combination, disclose or suggest the present invention.
The present invention includes an apparatus and method for restoring moisture to lint cotton in a cotton gin. The concept of the present invention is to precisely adjust the moisture content of lint cotton at a lint slide based on the final moisture desired in the bale, the volume of lint cotton present (i.e., the ginning rate), and, depending on the model or mode of the present invention, the moisture present in the lint cotton before adding moisture. The present invention applies moisture to the lint cotton on the lint slide prior to entering the press. In the automatic mode of the present invention, the amount of moisture applied is determined by measuring the moisture in the lint cotton as it leaves the battery condenser (preferably using an infrared moisture measuring sensor or the like), subtracting the value of that measured incoming moisture from the desired final moisture of the finished bale, and then multiplying the difference by the rate of ginning in bales per second, resulting in the percent of moisture to be added per second to the lint cotton between the battery condenser and bale press. This data is used by the present invention to deliver a very accurately metered volume of moisture to each bale, resulting in a finished bale with the desired final moisture content, regardless of the incoming moisture or the rate of ginning.
The apparatus of the present invention includes, in general, rate measuring means for measuring the rate of lint cotton exiting a battery condenser; moisture adding means for adding a precise amount of moisture to the lint cotton between the battery condenser and a bale press based on the desired moisture content of the cotton bale, and the rate of lint cotton exiting the battery condenser; and, perhaps, moisture content measuring means for measuring the moisture content of the lint cotton as it leaves the battery condenser.
The method of the present invention includes, in general, the steps of measuring the rate of lint cotton exiting a battery condenser; adding a precise amount of moisture to the lint cotton between the battery condenser and a bale press based on the desired moisture content of the cotton bale, and the rate of lint cotton exiting the battery condenser; and, perhaps, measuring the moisture content of the lint cotton as it leaves the battery condenser.
One object of the present invention is to provide an accurate apparatus and method for adding a precise amount of moisture to lint cotton before the lint is tramped into a cotton bale.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic model by adding a controlled and variable amount of moisture to lint cotton as it moves from the battery condenser down the lint slide on the way to the bale press based on, in part, the incoming moisture of the lint cotton (i.e., the moisture content of the lint cotton as it enters the lint slide, before moisture is added thereto) to result in a finished bale moisture equal to a final bale percent moisture dial setting or the like as set by gin management.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a manual model by adding a preset amount of moisture to each bale as the lint cotton moves down the lint slide on the way to the bale press, resulting in a finished bale that has had the percent of moisture selected on the moisture to add dial setting (set by gin management) added to the bale, regardless of the incoming moisture of the lint cotton.